Jake Boston: Focus
by dimco6
Summary: How great would it be to always make the best decision? In this story Jake Boston always makes the best decision... But it gives him headaches! And he doesn't know why! Join him in his internal journey to find out what essentially puppets him into making the best decision in this Adventure/Sci-Fi story that was started 2011, and continued 3 years later in 2014!
1. Commander of the Wrecked City

**Quick note! I wrote chapters 1 - 6 and then didn't write anything for literally years haha. So Chapter 7 quality improves awkwardly and so does language. Hopefully you don't mind! Also, a lot of the stuff in this story is Fiction. As in like how you get to pick your weapon, and stuff like that. All of this is for fun, and a lot of it is my imagination. Not meant to be super realistic, but more Call of Duty/for fun haha. Anyways, enjoy! :).**

My name is Jake Boston, I'm a soldier. I used to do dogs, but now I'm just a normal troop. Well, not completely normal. I'm one of the Army's best dog scouts, and they have no problem admitting that. I was always interested in the Army, and good in the dog training. In fact, I saved 21 men's lives one day when I was able to tell that my dog found a minefield. We were blindly walking right into it, the result of such an accident like that is hard to even imagine. I've been the best in Dog scouting ever since. That's why I became a regular troop… to become the best there too.

**3 Months Later**

The faces of past defeats forged by flame flicked themselves outward. They licked at the entire room engulfing everything in a split second. Then... everything was dark…

**Earlier**

**Sgt. Boston**

**March 19****th**** 2004**

**Al Habbaniyah, Iraq**

I felt the weight of my M16. I tossed it up about six inches and let it land in my gloves. I closed one eye and held its aim up to the other. I moved it away from me, moved my head back, and looked at it from left to right. And put it on my back. I grabbed an Mk 22 and dropped it in my Sidearm Pocket.

"Let's head out." commander Kneel whispered. Sgt. Punter opened the door and the team jogged through a grassy field to a small burnt town. My radio quietly gave orders as we walked.

"Take offensive positions."

I headed into the town and took cover behind a building. Everything was still quiet.

"Boston, give us cover when we're spotted." My radio ordered.

I walked into a badly demolished building, went up the stairs, and grabbed the handles of a lethal looking turret.

"Gotcha" I replied into my Radio.

A UH-60 Black Hawk flew down and dropped some enemies off on the other side of the area.

"Enemy Chopper, units are moving in" I warned. The commander gave some hand signals and the team, staying hidden, moved up to the sides of the next row of buildings.

"Take them out after they pass." He whispered into the radio. I aimed the turret at some further back targets as the first enemy ran past the ambush area.

When I dared look for a split second at that first enemy the sight that met my eyes was chilling. Machine Gun Rattles of at least 5 Automatic Rifles Chattered and the unit flew onto the ground in the middle of a fresh layer of blood on the concrete.

"Fire at will!" the radio screamed. My turret burst to life with enormous power stopping an enemy dead in his tracks with a flying blur of splattered blood behind him and he hit the floor. I swayed the turret to the left and let out another ear splitting chatter of gunfire, shooting off someone's arm.

The rest of the team by now was out and in the action, from my second story position I could see the yellow blurs flying back and fourth at the two sides. I could see units falling on either side; I was especially worried about those falling on our side. I couldn't just stop, though, I let the turret do its job and continue blowing the life out of those who were threatening that of mine. I watched the head of the enemy I was aiming at explode and I smiled, for he had been aiming at me.

It ended as fast as it started with the falling of the last few enemies. A medic walked over to one of our team members who had been shot. He talked to him for a few seconds and then helped him up.

"Sgt. Rack won't be moving on." He said into the radio. I frowned. One man was a lot of cover, losing him might lose us the mission. I shook off the expression and stayed focused, though.

"Alright, regroup 2 rows up!" shouted the commander into his radio. I disarmed the turret and took out my M14. I hurried down the stairs and through the door. I ran over to the group and smiled as the commander spoke, "Good work, especially you Boston."

"Thank you, sir." I replied.

"I'll quickly review the plan. We have to make it to the enemy base up ahead, those troops were scouts, and when their transport comes back to pick up nothing the base will know we are here, so we have to move fast. Once we get to the base we will use the back entrance to surprise them and get to the 2nd floor. From there we head to the commander in charge and capture him, are we clear?"

"Yes, sir!" we all said in slightly different times.

Following the commander we ran forward, somewhat spreading our distance from one another, we climbed over a hill and crawled down towards a large enemy base.

"Stay sharp" Ordered my radio. "Watch for any patrol."

We rounded the corner of the building and got up. We hurried towards two doors side by side leading to two different rooms in the back of the building. We separated into two teams. Each team was to take one door. I planted a charge on my door and got to the side. I shook my head at Sgt. Brooks (Another Sgt. On my team.) and pulled out a detonator.

It is strange, because I remember the next part happening in slow motion. The charge exploded and Brooks and I turned to the door. Papers, dust, and metal shards were flying everywhere. We saw 4 enemies in that room and slowly one by one took them out with a steady line of bullets. Then, everything went back to reality. We both walked in the room followed by Sgt. Howard and looked around.

"Nothing here really" I said. "How about you, Cap. You find anything?"

"Not that I can see. Get over here, though, there's a door we can go through to get to the stairs."

"Alright" I said as we walked to the room Cmd. Kneel was in.

We got into the room and jogged to the door. He opened it with his gun pointed out and signaled us to move in. I hurried through to the end of a hallway and I looked around the corner, quickly I turned my head back just when 3 bullets flew by and chipped a piece off the wall.

"Enemies up ahead!" I shouted to the team

"Move in!" ordered the commander. I ran in shooting my M14 beside me at the enemies, a bullet hit one and he twisted around and fell to the ground. I jumped behind a crate and waited for the bullets hitting the crate to stop before I moved to the side aimed the ACOG sight at en enemy's head and fired. I turned to another enemies' chest instead of viewing the death of the last enemy and watched the enemy move with the bullets that hit him and fall to the ground revealing a red splatter on the floor behind him.

I turned back and took cover behind the box and looked at the team. I saw Sgt. Howard move to the side of his cover and start shooting at the enemies. In the blink of an eye I was pushing myself back with my feet in horror at the sight of him being shot in the arm and falling into plain sight.

I made a split-second decision and threw a smoke grenade into the crowd of enemies and jumped in Sgt. Howard's direction. When I landed I started rolling and shot 20 bullets into the growing cloud of smoke. At the perfect time I used my feet to stop me quickly so that I tilted forward and I jumped at Sgt. Howard, he was lying on the ground, holding his wounded arm and wincing in pain. I hit him and we flew behind the cover, a bullet hitting the bottom of my shoe at the position where we were.

I propped him up and took out an emergency kit from my pocket; I opened it up and grabbed a pair of tweezers. I shoved a new clip into my gun, moved out of cover and with one hand and shot into the smoke once more, then I grabbed at the wound with the tweezers and found the bullet, I closed in on it and pulled, it wouldn't budge! I pulled harder. It wiggled a bit; it must be stuck in the bone! I dropped my gun put both hands around the tweezers and pulled with tremendous strength. The bullet came out and I almost fell over. I grabbed some bandage and wrapped it around his arm a couple of times, then tied it. He would be okay, I hoped.

I grabbed my M14 back and peeked out at the fading smoke, shooting at the remaining enemy. "Howard is hurt!" I said. The commander came over. "Where's the wound?" he asked. I pointed at the bandage.

"What? If he just got shot, how'd the bandage get there?" the commander said confused.

"I put it on; I used the smoke grenade as cover."

"The battle only lasted at the most 15 seconds!" the commander said, shocked.

"Yea…" I said like I knew how long it had been, even though it seemed like forever.

"Outstanding. Good work, Boston. But, we've got to move. Medic! Take Sgt. Howard to your Heli. He won't be taking part in the rest of the mission." The medic took away Sgt. Howard. He looked back at me while they were walking away and mouthed "Thank you".

"Alright, move up the stairs!" said the commander. The team ran up the stairs. I rounded the corner at the end of the staircase, aimed and fired at an enemy.

"Get to that door at the end of the hall, the commander may be in there." The team walked up to the door and the commander signaled me to move to his back. I walked to his back, put my M16 on my back and took out my Mk 22. I put my left hand on his shoulder and patted his shoulder twice. He kicked open the door revealing 2 people, the commander, who stood up very quickly and a guard. I quickly aimed at the guard and shot him in the stomach, he crippled over. Cmd. Kneel then shot the enemy Commander's pistol from his hand and walked inside. Sgt. Brooks got behind the enemy Commander and pushed him down into his chair then pushed his head down against the desk in front of him. I walked over and disarmed him of any weapons as Cmd. Kneel talked, "You're going to tell us what we need to know."

"I'll never tell you anything!" he yelled back.

"Oh really?" commander kneel walked over to him and put a finger on his throat. The Enemy Commander passed out.


	2. Back to Home Base

We captured the captain and header to the other side of the lake for transport out of Iraq. The lake was about one sixth of a klick away so we took the medical helicopter to the lake, from there we would have to ride two armed boats across the four and a half mile lake because the medical helicopter had to head to a different base. Enemy support coming to the base was expected to intercept us so we had to be ready for attack. We can make that, easily.

**Sgt. Boston**

**March 19****th****, 2004**

**Lake Habbaniyah, Iraq**

It was a bright night. Wind was blowing everywhere and I could hear chopping blades and a loud engine. The helicopter was lowering down, leaves flying in all directions away from the landing point. When we were about 5 feet from the ground I jumped out, the rest of the team followed. We walked over in front of Lake Habbaniyah and lined up. The captain walked in front of us. "Sgt. Punter, you're with me. The commander can come with us and sit under the deck in the ammunition hold. Brooks and Boston, you two take Sgt. Howard and Rack with you."

"Let's go Brooks." I said.

Sgt. Brooks and I walked to an armored boat next to the Commander's helping Sgt. Howard and Sgt. Rack walk. They would be okay, if we made it to the other side.

"Rack, you can hang in the ammunition hold. Howard, I expect you to be able to be lookout." I told them.

"I'll try my best" replied Sgt. Howard. I got behind the wheel of the Boat and Sgt. Brooks armed the front turret. Sgt. Howard stood on the side of the boat looking around and Sgt. Rack walked down into the Ammunition Hold.

I looked at the commander and he nodded his head. He started his boat and moments later the engine of mine began to rumble. I moved the stick up a bit and slowly made my way out of the shallow water. The commander's boat sped up and he got ahead of me, I smiled and pushed up my stick quickly, but not so fast that Sgt. Howard would fall over. In moments we were speeding side by side across the lake.

The wind was blowing at my uniform, and the mist of water was getting in my eyes. I felt refreshed, but, suddenly I saw a red splotch where I was looking, and just like that it was gone, leaving only a hint of headache. I was reminded to stay focused, I think. So I listened to it and looked forward. "Stay focused Howard, don't get to relaxed." I said.

"Huh? Oh, yes. Sorry." He kind of stumbled to get it out of his mouth. I guess he was a bit distracted. We continued riding.

I looked over at the commander. He was pretty focused, too.

"Boston!" I looked over at Sgt. Howard. He was serious suddenly and was pointing to the right. I looked to where he was pointing and saw another armored ship, this one not being ours. "We have enemy resistance to our right!" I shouted into my radio. "Hey, Brooks! Enemy at 3 o' clock, shoot him!" Sgt. Brooks tuned the turret at the enemy boat and fired a line of bullets at the enemy turret handler. The first few hit the turret but one got to the turret operator and he flew back into the water.

Sgt. Brooks then moved at another enemy shooting at us and fired. The lines of bullets were hitting the boat but not the enemy and I saw some sparks fly by my feet. "Take him out before I get my leg shot off, man!" I shouted. Brooks gained concentration and stopped firing to aim. He pointed to turret a bit ahead of the enemy and fired again. The bullets flew behind him at first but I sped up quickly and three bullets hit the enemy pinning him to the elevated ground behind him.

Sgt. Punter took a shot at the enemy boat and gave the driver a headshot. The driver flipped off of the elevated area and next to our victim from earlier. Then without hesitation, two more boats appeared one on either side of us.

"Brooks! Aim for the back of the boat!" ordered the commander from the radio. Sgt. Brooks shot the turret all around the back of the boat and finally with the last bullet in the stream the boat disappeared into a fiery plume followed by the uncovering of a gigantic smoke cloud.

Sgt. Brooks then aimed the turret at the other boat just in time to see it swerving out of control and finally flipping over. I let out a sigh of relief. "Well, commander. I think that'll be it for the day."

"I'm thinking the same." He said back. Both of our boats sped up and we headed in one direction, towards the exit point.

"A job well done…" said Sgt. Brooks.

"Yep, you did well, brooks." I commented. The commander looked at his watch and said, "10:00 guys, it'll be a while before we get to our destination. If you want you can switch off who is driving and take short naps."

"Hah, yea, I call first nap" Said Sgt. Punter. I laughed and rode on. It was going to be a long night.


	3. Silent as Snow

We continued on our way throughout the night. We reached the exit point by morning and were flown back to base. When we got back to base we were supposed to rest for a day then we would go on another mission. When our resting day was up Cmd. Kneel came in and told us our next mission, I was excited.

**Sgt. Boston**

**March 21****st**

**Ar Rutba (Home Base), Iraq**

The commander walked into the room smiling. He looked at all of us and began speaking, "We've got our mission. We have to stop the work of a base in the Sinjar Mountains. This base mines materials, provides medical support, and serves as an outpost." We all smiled. I have always wanted to go to the mountains, snowy ones especially.

"We are heading out in an hour; the base is about 40 clicks northeast of our current position, so we'll be taking a Chopper most of the way then we will take snowmobiles to the base. We'll be going in without being noticed for as long as possible, that means we will go to the attachment room and grab silencers for your guns. No grenades, though. An explosion like that may start an avalanche."

"Yes, sir!" we all said.

We walked to the gun room to grab some new guns for this mission and on the way Sgt. Howard came up to me. "Hey Boston, the Medic says I'm able to go on this one!"

"Sweet dude, I'm happy you aren't hurt to bad. What's the damage?"

"He says the bullet curved when it hit me, I'm lucky, it was headed to the bone."

"Oh! That's why it was so hard to take out, it was at an angle." I realized.

"Hah. Yea, thanks again, man." He said. I smiled and said, "No problem." Then I continued on my way.

The team walked into the gun room and we walked over to a large shelf with automatic Rifles. We all grabbed the AUGs and I checked out the aim, it seemed fair enough. We also went over and took some M9s. I put the AUG on my back and the M9 in my Sidearm pocket and headed to the attachment room.

Once we got to the Attachment room I grabbed a suppressor for my AUG and another for my M9. I put them on and looked at the grenades rack. We weren't supposed to have grenades, but what about flashbangs? I picked up two flashbangs and stuck them on my belt. Then we left to get on the CH-47 Chinook, ready for the mission.

When we got to the runway I loaded up on the Chinook. It had carrying space so the Snowmobiles were in there. The commander told us the plan on the way. "The snowmobiles will take us to the perimeter; we will climb over the gate and make our way to cover. We will silently take out the guards, but it is vital that you don't set off the alarm so get a headshot or don't take the shot."

He paused for a moment. "When we take out all of the outside guards we'll make our way into the 3rd story of the building. The first targets will be the command. We will take them out silently and then we will use climbing harnesses to get down to the 2nd floor. That's when we make our presence visible. We will breach in the window and take out overlook area. Then we will make our way throughout the entire facility, but be careful, we need all of you out alive."

"Yes, sir." We said.

The helicopter slowly descended.

"That's us" said Cmd. Kneel. We each geared up and got on a snowmobile. Although it was still moving foward, the back of the Chinook opened providing a steady rail to get down.

"Go, go go!" said Cmd. Kneel and with that I pushed my feet ahead of me causing me to slide backwards. I started up the snowmobile and flew off of the plane about 10 feet from the ground. I sped up just before landing so that I flew forward following Cmd. Kneel. My radio started spurting commands and chatter.

"Everyone land okay?"

"Yea, cap. We're fine."

"Okay, pull out your sidearm and follow me."

"Copy that." I said and pulled out my Silenced M9. I aimed it ahead of me as we drove.

"Enemy at 4:00, take him out!" said the commander. I veered to the right and shot at a patrol that saw us. The bullets flew at him with lightning speed and flipped him around. I turned back with the team. "The enemy is down." I said.

"Good work, keep on track" replied the commander.

We drove up to the enemy base and I saw the commander slow down so I did the same. We all stopped and dismounted the vehicles. We walked up silently.

"Guards up ahead, wait for my mark." I put the camouflage sheet over my snowmobile and jumped the fence. I walked up to a pile of snow and looked around it but made sure to not be seen. I took out my AUG and looked into the aim.

"Remember, no sound, headshots only" said my radio. I put the dot of the Aim on the head of an enemy that was walking in our direction. When he got out of the base's sight I pulled the trigger and though there was barely any sound he fell over, the snow behind him stained in blood. Looking around quite a few people were falling over. I aimed at another man that was looking around suspiciously and let out another silent line of bullets.

"All Clear" said the captain.

I followed Captain Kneel to the base and up to a door. "Quiet" he warned. He opened the door and walked in motioning for us to come with him. About 15 people were sitting behind computers and 5 guards were sitting around. I raised my gun and aimed for a guard but before I could shoot Cmd. Kneel pushed my gun down. He signaled to shoot the guards in the back first then move up row by row, and then he signaled to open fire. Flaming bullets started silently hitting enemies. I aimed at a man sitting behind a computer and let out a line of bullets into him. He curled over and fell onto the keyboard in an instant. The man next to him looked over for a split second before I shot him.

The guards suddenly looked up and the chatter of gunfire started for an instant. A moment later they were all dead. The room's remaining survivors went into panic, pistols were pulled out and people were scurrying around. I shot at a computer worker that was pointing a pistol at me and he flew back knocking over a fleeing enemy. I shot the fallen enemy and began jogging along the outside of the room. The whole team started scanning the isles shooting any survivors.

I ran outside the third floor and prepared climbing harnesses. When the rest of the team got out Cmd. Kneel and I got on two harnesses and started our decent. We hit the ground and ran beside a window. Cmd. Kneel stuck a 2 Inch half sphere on the window and pressed a button on it. He got against the wall pushing me with him and within 3 seconds the window completely shattered. Not a single sound, explosion, or bullet. I turned my head into the room with cmd. Kneel and shot at the shocked crowd of lookout members. I saw three people slide back and then fall to the ground dead.

I aimed and shot near the heads of the enemies watching them explode almost like lined up watermelons. I aimed at the stomach of an enemy and shot a line of bullets into him causing him to fly backwards. Cmd. Kneel killed the last enemy and we climbed into the room.

**To Be Continued…**


	4. Silent as Snow Part 2

**The wait is over! Chapter 4 is here with 5 and 6 to come in the following days! Thanks for the reviews! ( Corporal 'Spider' Hawthorne, I hope this chapter is your idea of Serious Action, because I think it's pretty Actionous!) also I added some more detail and changed some things as recommended by Doom Marine 54 in some past chapters if you want to check that out. I hope you like this chapter!**

* * *

><p><strong>Sgt. Boston<strong>

**March 21****st**

**Sinjar Mountains, Iraq**

I pulled a switch turning off all the power in the facility and Cmd. Kneel scanned a map. I walked over to the window and waved up to the rest of the team signaling that they were clear to come down. While they whizzed down their harnesses I walked over to Cmd. Kneel and asked him what the rest of the plan was.

"We have to go down a floor and through this hallway" Said Cmd. Kneel while pointing to a hallway on the map "These two rooms should be occupied so there will be resistance in the hallway. Remember, we set off the alarm, the whole facility knows we are here."

"We should hurry then, shouldn't we?" I said.

"Yes, let's go." Said Cmd. Kneel. I opened the door to the stairwell and started my way down carefully watching for enemies, the rest of the team following. When I got to the 1st floor I carefully looked out with my gun pointing out. There was no one there…

"All clear…" I said suspiciously. I hurried down the hallway and to the side of a room.

"Howard, you're with Boston" said Cmd. Kneel. "Brooks, you're with me, and Punter, watch our backs."

I got out my M9 and got in front of the door. When Howard tapped my shoulder I kicked open the door revealing 2 or 3 guards and 3 medics that were in the middle of arming themselves. I aimed my M9 at a guard who had turned to see me and shot once causing him to fly back and drop his gun. I then turned to a man next to him and shot again. He flew backwards and fell to the floor. Two others turned to run and I shot them in the backs. The last fell due to Sgt. Howard.

We turned back to see Cmd. Kneel and his room of dead enemies and awaited more orders.

"That should do it. No one should be Mining at the moment." He said. "Let's radio the base and get back to the snowmobiles." We got outside on the rimming and headed to a communication area. We rounded a corner and I saw a radio in the window of an unoccupied overlook post.

"There!" I shouted.

"Let's move, there's probably an entrance on the other side" said Cmd. Kneel. He ran ahead and I followed until we were about halfway there. Suddenly my head screamed with pain and I saw red splotches in many different spots. I stopped and held my head tight, hoping it would help. "Cap!" I yelled to make him stop and turn around. "Gah, my head… Agh! It hurts so much!" all of the sudden the ground that Cmd. Kneel was standing next to exploded and he flew over the edge headed for a thousand foot drop. The pain in my head somehow guided me, making me get up, grab the railing, and jump after him. I grabbed Cmd. Kneel by the arm and I swung back sliding safely back with the rest of the team.

I looked up to see what caused the explosion. "Enemy Bird! Take cover!" I screamed at the team. I put the injured Commander around my shoulder and started running towards the overlook area. The turret operator on the Helicopter opened fire at me. I flung myself out of the path of the glowing bullets and crashed into the window. The glass shattered around me and the commander before hitting the floor like broken ice. I rolled under a steel desk put the commander down and enjoyed a moment of safety.

Very quickly I got back to my feet and shot almost completely random bullets at the turret mounted upon the swerving chopper then ran to a door at the other side of the room. I swung the door in front of me as bullets from the wounded turret operator began flying out of control and I felt a large THUNK as a bullet hit the door. I ran around to the front of the door and shot at the driver cabin of the helicopter then grabbed the doorknob and jumped into the next room. The door slammed behind me and I rolled on the ground and lie still. The chatter of gunfire had stopped and I heard the helicopter explode many feet down. I peeked out of a broken window and looked around for my teammates.

"Howard?" I said loudly "Brooks? Punter! Where are you guys?" I went back into the room with the commander and started to climb out the window. "Wait here Sir, I'll be right back." I ran back into the building. The three other teammates were there. Sgt. Brooks had blood all over his arm. "Brooks! Guys are you alright?" I asked frantically. "I'm fine… but brooks isn't." said Sgt. Howard. I jogged over to Sgt. Brooks and took out a medical kit.

"Howard, the captain is in the lookout room, can you go get him? Radio the base too." I said. He looked at me and nodded his head "Alright." I rolled up Brook's sleeve and took a look at the wound. I wiped up all of the blood with a small towel and dabbed some medicine on the wound. I wrapped it up and helped him up. "Let's go brooks. You too punter, we're leaving." I said.

We walked out to the overlook and found Sgt. Howard with the Commander radioing the base. "They can get here in twenty minutes." He reported. "Gah, that's not fast enough. We don't know what's wrong with the commander." I said. I walked over to him "Are you gonna live cap?" I asked. "Yeah, I'll be fine now. Thanks." I smiled. "Alright" I said. "We wait here until that transport comes." I opened the door to the next room and walked in. "What was that headache about..?" I said to myself. It was a mysterious factor. Very Mysterious.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there you are :D! Although it was somewhat short it was the second encounter of the Mysterious Force that I mentioned in chapter 2. I'm sure you know what it is by now .. Whatcha think about Boston? Very good at saving peoples' lives eh? Chapter 5 will be out tomorow, and it will be slowed down a bit.<strong>


	5. Deciphering

**This chapter is short and is to plant some ideas in your mind. The next chapter, I promise, will be much longer ;P. **

* * *

><p>We were picked up by Helicopter and flown back to base where Cmd. Kneel and Sgt. Brooks would be examined by a medic. When we got back to base I decided to sort out my thoughts and try to understand everything better.<p>

**Sgt. Boston**

**March 22****nd**

**Ar Rutba (Home Base), Iraq**

I was sitting on a couch in the 'Connection Room'. I called it that because it was kind of like a lounge that connected to all of the hallways. In the middle the room had a table and two couches. The couches were not very fancy, but we didn't use them very often anyways. I sat down on the couch with a pen and some paper and started to think.

I thought back to three days ago, on the very first mission when Sgt. Rack was wounded. I remember seeing the blood on his arm and stomach. It was so red, almost as if it wasn't on him, but on me. After seeing him I dozed off for a second and had to pull myself back together. That was a new experience for me… I mean, I had seen plenty of wounded soldiers back when I worked with Dogs, but ever since I've been here, I've started to feel really different about them.

"Hey, Jake" my eyes widened and I sat up straight. I looked around and saw Sgt. Punter. I looked back down at what I had written on my sheet of paper. "Hi." I said.

"You did great with the Commander and Brooks today. I mean, not like you don't usually do good." He said happily. I looked at the table and just let the silence seep in. I didn't know Punter that well, and I'm not sure why he came out here to congratulate me. I took a deep breath and while exhaling said "Thanks."

Punter started speaking again. "You know, the commander would be dead right now if you hadn't stopped him." I turned my head and let my eyes follow him as he sat down on the Couch across from me. "Whadda you mean?" I said quickly so it sounded like one word.

"The medic said that only his back has some slight damage. If he had walked any further he would have practically been turned into a hundred pieces of roasted Kneel." I smiled. "Yea? What about Brooks, is he okay?" He looked up in concern. Then smiled. "The wound would have killed him if it wasn't treated. Something on the bullet started a revolutionary infection but luckily when he got here it was small enough to dismiss."

"That's great news." I said. I was very happy that I helped him.

"You know, you've saved everyone's butts except for me."

"What?"

"You saved Howard on the first mission and the Captain would have died on the last mission if it wasn't for you. Same for Brooks. I'm the only guy that hasn't been somehow rescued by you." I thought about it. It was true. "You're right." I wrote that down.

"What's that you're doodling?" Sgt. Punter asked.

"Ha, it's nothing. I'm trying to figure out what's happening." He looked at me with a puzzled face. "We're killing enemies and you're saving team. That's what's happening."

His face lit up as he found out what I was thinking about. "Are you puzzled by why there are no zombies yet? I got out a pen and paper when I found out they don't exist too." Never mind, this guy needs to get a pen and paper to sign his way into school. "No! Not that… Look, on the first mission I saw rack getting carried away and the blood on him looked unreal." Sgt. Punter put his fist under his chin as if he was the 'Thinking Man'. He obviously didn't get it. "and then on the way back I saw a splotch of red on my eye."

**Flashback:**_ The wind was blowing at my uniform, and the mist of water was getting in my eyes. I felt refreshed, but, suddenly I saw a red splotch where I was looking, and just like that it was gone, leaving only a hint of headache. I was reminded to stay focused, I think. So I listened to it and looked forward._

**Present Time: **"Oh. Why are you thinking about that?" He asked.

"Because I saw it again on the mountains today" Punter looked down at his watch and quickly said "You mean yest-"

"Yesterday." I said interrupting him. It was 12:17 AM, seriously Punter?

"Do you think I have some kind of illness?" I asked.

"I doubt it. I've never heard Red-dots-on-your-eyes-itis."

"Hah, yea neither have I. Maybe I'm remembering Sgt. Rack… But why? Why at these certain times?" I leaned forward, put my elbows on my legs, and my fingers through my hair.

We sat there for a while and eventually Punter Spoke up, "Hey, well only time will tell." I looked at him. "I guess so." I said. He got up and headed out. "Later Boston." I turned around and waved, "Bye Michael." I looked down at the paper I had written all of my notes on. I folded it up, grabbed my pen, and decided to sleep on the idea.


	6. First Blood

**So as I promised this chapter is much longer. Almost 2,000 words :D! When I first wrote it it wasn't long enough so I decided to add another little encounter at the end causing it to be much longer. Thats why its that long ;P. This is the last chapter before the little wait comes back so enjoy!**

* * *

><p>That night I didn't sleep well. I kept seeing red splotches in any dream segments I had. Then I would wake up with my head hurting for a couple of minutes. I would go back to sleep and wake up half an hour later under the same condition. The next morning we did a simple mission that I knew I would have some time too think during.<p>

**Sgt. Boston**

**March 22****nd**

**Qasr Amiq, Iraq**

Our Humvee slowed down and we came to a stop. Dust from the desert ground pushed forward hitting me as I opened the door. I stepped out and reached my hands into the air while slowly bending backwards. The feeling of getting out of a crammed vehicle after a 4 hour drive is amazing. I reached back into the 'underworld's waiting room' and got out my M4 Carbine as Cmd. Kneel spoke. "Boston and Punter, you two take the West border. Howard, you and me will be watching the East."

"Looks like it's you and me Punter." I said.

"Yeah, I don't understand why I will need you though. All we're doing is watching for strange activities in some camp that's probably a church holding some camping trip in the desert." Sgt. Punter said looking really upset.

"Well, there is that small village only 2 miles away."

Sgt. Punter and I headed west, away from Cmd. Kneel and Sgt. Howard. Eventually we got to our lookout area and climbed up a large ramp of sand. I took out some binoculars from my pack and looked into them. I could hear myself breathing hard from the trip up here while I looked at the camp. There were 6 or 7 small tents around a much larger tent that seemed to be the main building. I looked at the people that were walking into the large tent. From my position I could see AK-47s strapped to their backs.

"That's not a Church Camp-Out." I said.

"I know… Don't rub it in…" said Sgt. Punter. I scanned the perimeter and gathered as much information as I could. "They have two AH-64 Apaches" Sgt. Punter laughed sarcastically, "Like they are going to need that."

"That's not all they have." I said, "They got a BTR."

"Not cool." Sgt. Punter said. I looked at the turrets around the camp and frowned. "We're not dealing with anything usual." I stopped looking into the Binoculars. "Let's Radio the Commander."

Sgt. Punter picked up the radio and told the commander about the Helicopters and Tank. "and there's turrets all over." He finished.

"Copy that. We're seeing a carrier being loaded from our position."

I looked up in surprise and took the radio, "You mean they are trading? Providing something?"

"Bombs. I can tell by the packaging." Explained Cmd. Kneel. "This is more then I expected" said Sgt. Punter.

"No kidding. I though we were going to be relax-" my head exploded.

Or at least it felt like it exploded. I saw a blur of my vision in every part that I didn't see red and my head throbbed as if it was smashed by a wrecking ball. I rolled over and grabbed my scalp. "GAH!" I screamed in between my extremely heavy breathing. I looked at Sgt. Punter who was looking at me in a puzzled look and right where my head was before the sand flew up. With that my head felt fine and my vision returned to normal.

We both jumped to our feet and started looking around frantically. "Kneel, Sniper!" I looked at where the bullet hit and thought back to how the sand flew up and in what direction. I calculated where the bullet came from at lightning speed and looked up on a hill of sand. "There!" I shouted while pointing at a black dot on the hill. I suddenly realized that I wasn't thinking.

I jumped at Sgt. Punter when he looked up and knocked him over right before a bullet flew into my leg. I rolled on the ground and when I stopped a trail of blood was leading right up to me. "Son of a…" Now, you see, I usually don't curse because I had an uncle that was in the army that died because he took the time to curse. So I held myself back and used my M4 Carbine to shoot at the sniper.

When Sgt. Punter got up to yell at me and saw the blood he nearly fainted. "Kneel, we need a medic!" He shouted into the radio while I shot at the sniper. Sand all around that loser was flying up but I couldn't get a shot to hit him. Finally he took cover and we had a moment to save ourselves. Sgt. Punter grabbed me and helped me as we ran to the Humvee. Cmd. Kneel drove it up to us and Sgt. Punter helped me into the back seat. He closed the door and got into the other seat next to me.

"What's the damage?" Asked Cmd. Kneel

"It's just a flesh wound." I replied. Cmd. Kneel headed in the direction of where we came from. I started to worry, "Commander, I don't know if I will be able to last another 4 hours…" He hit the brakes and looked back at me. Then he turned his head to Sgt. Punter. Sgt. Punter looked at him and then realized he was trying to get him to do something.

"Oh, yes sir? Do you need something?" *FACEPALM* "Wrap him up!" Cmd. Kneel yelled. He sat up stunned and without delay started aiding me.

"Take the kit from my pocket, Punter." I told him.

"Okay…" he said, clearly not knowing what to do. He took it out and opened it up.

"The bandage roll, take it out." I ordered. He held the bandage roll up.

"Take it and wrap it around the wound." He wrapped it around the room.

"Now just tuck it in at the top for now." He did what he was told and we continued driving.

Suddenly the Humvee veered right and Sgt. Punter fell onto my leg. I calmly said "Ouch."

"Sorry" he said as he got up. I looked to see the commander and asked, "Where are we going?" he sped up, "It's a shortcut. Trust me." I leaned back and just relaxed. Eventually I fell asleep.

"Kneel, enemy truck at 5 o'clock!" I heard from a familiar voice.

"We're still half an hour away!" said the voice of Cmd. Kneel. I saw pitch black but I could hear a conversation going on, like a radio.

"We have to get the heck out of here!" said the voice. I think it was Sgt. Punter.

"I know, I know, try and take them out." I heard from a calm, serious Cmd. Kneel. The voices stopped for a moment before Sgt. Punter replied, "Are you crazy? I can't-"

"I don't care, get on the ring mount and shoot!"

I heard gunshots above me and suddenly woke up. "What's going on?" I asked

"Enemy. Behind us." said Sgt. Brooks with his M4 Carbine up and ready to shoot. "What? How did they know we were-" I sighed. "I hate that sniper." I looked up at Sgt. Punter that was shooting through the Ring mount.

"I don't know how to take them out!" he yelled down. Of course he doesn't know how. Sometimes I really didn't know about Sgt. Punter.

"Come down Punter." I said. I grabbed my M9 and with one leg took his place. I scanned the vehicle. 6 wheel everyday truck. The kind farmers use to transport hay and large loads. "Loads that can be replaced with people" I thought to myself. There were 8 people, four on each side of the cart in the back. The only problem was the wall around them. They can easily stand up, shoot, then duck back down. They're playing a freaking duck game in the middle of war.

I thought back to the day when I went to the carnival and played the duck game for the first time in my life. The ducks didn't exactly have cover, but they bobbed up and down while moving. The game was a rectangular prism with the ducks in the mid area. It was held up by the balance of a couple of sticks. I got annoyed at the mocking look of the birds and shot the sticks which made the whole game collapse.

That was exactly what I had to do here. Just not sticks, drivers. If I could take out the driver during a harsh turn then the whole truck would flip over. Game won. "Hey, Kneel!" I shouted down, "I need a harsh turn!"

"Alright" he said keeping his eyes ahead. The jeep veered right and the truck followed immobilizing any of the shooters inside.

I aimed my M9 at the window of the moving truck and shot causing the pistol to recoil. The windshield cracked and the truck stopped turning for a moment but quickly continued following us in the turn. I moved my pistol back down at the truck and flames licked out of my pistol as the second shot slid out causing the whole windshield to crack. Before the truck could make any moves I quickly shot at the driver. The first shot hit the seat so I shot again hitting his arm. He took a hand off the wheel and the truck slowed down a bit. This was my last bullet, I had to hit him or else the Truck wouldn't flip.

I wrapped my finger around the trigger and pulled it. The bullet slipped out following the path of the barrel, right towards the seat. The driver turned further then he currently was trying to dodge the bullet but instead he drove right into it. The seat behind the drivers head was stained with a splatter of blood and the tight turn of the vehicle was suddenly stopped. Game won. The truck flipped over causing all of the gunmen to fall out on the desert ground.

I got back down into the Humvee and sat down in my seat, "Enemy down."

"Good work Boston." said Cmd. Kneel. Sgt. Punter looked over at me, "Looks like you've saved everyone, eh?" I looked up and smiled, "Looks like I have."

* * *

><p><strong>And by the way, did you figure out why the chapter is called "First Blood"? Boston gets his first wound o. O! Ouch. Just goes to show you that he's not invinsible. Anyways, I hope you liked it and you will find out his condition in the beginning of the next chapter after our short little wait. Bye now!<strong>


	7. The Lab

**Ayyyy! Haven't edited this story in literally years... :D! Haha! But I mean, I had some inspiration the other day. And yep. So I mean, if you're just starting now you should like notice a significant change in my writing ability here cause I'm like 4 years better haha! It's all for fun. And nothing serious. Enjoy if you can haha :P.**

We got back to base safely, and the medic checked on my wound. Luckily it was nothing too bad, and just needed some time to heal; I was out for four days. We didn't have any missions while I was out, and spent a luxurious time at the base. Our next mission was in the forest.

**Sgt. Boston**

**March 27th**

**Al-Mishikhab, Iraq**

The area was completely shaded; there were hundreds of large dark brown trees all around us that towered up at least 25 feet. They had dark green leaves stemming out from the branches which held moss that was 10 feet long. One branch could span from one tree to the next, or even further. They formed a rough roof above us that sat completely still, rustling at the occasional take off of a bird, or snapping of a branch. The ground was wet and muddy, the air was thick and humid, and there were large droplets of water dripping throughout the forest. Lush dark green grasses tickled my fingers around the trigger, and rustled beneath the boots of two patrolmen.

I hid beneath a fallen trunk, propped up between two large grey rocks in which I was between. There were mosses and large broken branches coming down from the trunk concealing me from view. About 4 feet in front of me was a rocky dirt path, in which the two guards would pass by in a moment. Everything was silent besides the constant dripping of water coming from all around, and the crunching of the dirt by four boots. The noise got louder and louder as they came closer and closer…

And then suddenly, they stopped.

A lifeless head landed inches from my face, followed by another a couple of feet further away. There were no sounds. The dead patrolman directly in front of me had one eye still open, the other eye replaced by a hole pouring out blood. The dirt covered body was abruptly ripped away by the feet and thrown behind a bush, and with that I crawled out of my hiding place.

"Nice clean shot, Howard. I'm impressed." I said softly.

"It's all in the wrist, buddy." He replied with a sarcastic smile.

"That's our little league batter for ya." said Cmd. Kneel, "Alright Babe Ruth, you made it to first base, second base is the lab." He joked quietly "And then third base is those documents. Everyone on me, we'll stay near the trail but in the cover of the bushes, if you see anyone you immediately drop down to a prone."

"Got it" We all said as we followed behind Cmd. Kneel.

"What's home base?" asked Sgt. Punter

"That's home, bud." said Sgt. Howard. The noise of our boots sinking into the mud was easily concealed by the constant patter of the forest, as we made our way forward. After 10 minutes of climbing over fallen trees and large rock formations, as well as Sgt. Punter's mosquito dangers lecture we came to a steep hill. Cmd. Kneel raised one fist signaling us to stop. "There it is."

I looked down the hill for a while but didn't see anything. The hill was about 10 feet high, and the bottom was only about 8 feet away, but all that I could see was more trees. It became much rockier at the bottom with large extrusions poking out very close together. The large chunk of rocks was covered in vines and mosses, and almost completely camouflaged to look like greenery, but suddenly one of the rocks opened.

Cmd. Kneel dropped down to prone, and the rest of us followed. We were motionless for about 7 seconds, and then two soldiers walked out of the rock. And then I realized what Cmd. Kneel saw. The rocks were disguise for a building, and the soldiers had just shown us the entrance. "Drop em and move up" said Cmd. Kneel. We all turned on our radios and Sgt. Howard pulled a grey bandanna up over his nose to cover everything but his eyes.

I lifted my M4A1 to my shoulder and looked through the sights until the ACOG was fastened on the guard who was about 6 feet behind the other's back. He was facing away from us, but just barely so that I saw his side. I set the gun to burst fire using the switch on the side and pulled the trigger. The weapon recoiled three times into my shoulder and shells landed in the wet mud as the soldier was immobilized at the knee, wounded in the hip, and killed by a bullet to the chest. He twisted around, continued standing for a split-second, and then crippled over soundlessly. Before he could hit the ground, though, I aimed at the second, more alerted guard, and sent two bullets to his chest and a third through his neck. This one flew back and slid a few feet in the mud.

"Let's go." Said Cmd. Kneel. We steadily made our way down the hill following behind Cmd. Kneel scanning our sides with our guns up. We reached the rock that the two previous guards had exited from and Sgt. Punter and I turned and scanned our back as Cmd. Kneel and Sgt. Howard opened the door to the facility. "We're in" said Cmd. Kneel and with that we all filed into the clean building.

As I entered the lab the first thing I noticed was how bright it was. The walls and ceiling were a glossy white, and the floor was a white granite tile, very fancy for the middle of a forest. The hallway was wide enough to fit two men side-by-side, and the ceilings were about 8 feet high. There were no windows. We rounded a corner into an almost identical hallway, except for there were doors on both sides, four rooms total.

"Sgt. Punter, with me we've got right. Boston and Howard, you clear out the rooms on the left." Said Cmd. Kneel

"Gotcha" Said Sgt. Howard

"Will do" I said. Cmd. Kneel stood next to the handle of the nearest door on the right side and Sgt. Punter stood behind him with his gun ready. Sgt. Howard and I did the same on the left. There were no windows so we could not see inside the room, nor could they see out. Cmd. Kneel counted off: "Three, two, one, breach." He said quickly but calmly.

In the blink of an eye I grabbed the handle, opened the door, and Sgt. Howard and I moved into the room. In the second blink of an eye we both raised our guns and fired a single bullet at the guards standing in both corners of the room. Both fell straight down revealing splatters of blood on the walls behind them, and we heard similar thumps across the hall. We pointed our guns at two men wearing lab coats sitting behind computers in the center of the room. It was a large room, with mechanical parts scattered everywhere. There were a lot of tables with drills and screwdrivers, as well as circuitry boards. Both men raised their hands above their heads in fear.

"Hands on your head, step away from the tools" I said, and they followed. "Howard, watch the door and make sure they're okay across the hall."

"Gotcha" Sgt. Howard replied as he turned around and walked back to the door. After the two men had got up I directed the nearest to move towards me.

"They're all good, Boston." Said Sgt. Howard.

"Good." I replied as I handcuffed the first. "Avoid unnecessary casualties… I feel like a cop." I pulled over a chair and sat down the man, tied his hands and legs to the chair and covered his mouth. Then I pushed him to the wall, Sgt. Howard did the same with another man that he also tied up. "We need to clear out the next room" said Sgt. Howard.

"All right, let's go." I said. "We're moving up to the next room, Commander." I said into my radio.

"Copy, as are we." He replied. All four of us stepped out back into the hallway and started our way up to the next set of doors, our boots thumping on the clean granite floor. We set up similarly on the next set and Cmd. Kneel counted down, "Three, two, one." I went to grab the doorknob but suddenly it came over me again. My hand snapped back and red splotches formed in my sight. I threw myself back in pain and hit Sgt. Howard, too.

And then the door exploded.

My eyes were closed but I could still hear, but everything was faded and cloudy just as it was in the back of the Jeep after I was wounded.

"AGHH!" I heard come from somewhere in the cloudiness

"Captain!" I heard from underneath me, and then felt myself get pushed over. I rolled over onto my chest and sat there for a moment as I heard gunfire and bullets ricocheting off of metal.

"Boston? Boston!" I heard as someone came over and touched my shoulder. Then there was a sizzling sound, and a breeze rushed over me. There was coughing and I heard the thumps of bodies falling over.

I opened my eyes.

Sgt. Howard lay in front of me, unconscious, and between him and me was my Desert Eagle. I felt electrocuted as if every nerve in my body had just received a signal. My spine sent out shots of energy to my arms and legs, and I grabbed the pistol and jumped onto my feet. In slow motion I aimed the pistol with one hand at a wide-eyed guard and shot him through the skull. Then I turned to the side and sent two bullets speeding into the chest of two others and finally aiming it at the unarmed man wearing a lab coat behind them. They had all been wearing gas masks.

"Yes… Yes, very good! It's even better than I expected.. a gorgeous success!" The scientist said. "I am most pleased with these results. Come now, put down the weapon, you have done all you can." He said.

"Hands on your head!" I shouted at him, still aiming my desert eagle at his head, "Now!" I demanded. He raised a finger to his ear and said "All right, put him down". And suddenly I felt the shock again; my vision blurred and was covered with red splotches. I tried to pull the trigger and kill the scientist but my hand just opened in pain and dropped the gun. My head felt as if it was going to explode, and then I just collapsed. As my vision darkened I saw the scientist and a couple of others dressed similarly gather over me. My head turned under its own weight, and my last sight before blacking out was Cmd. Kneel, lying on the blood covered ground.


End file.
